Correlational Research

There are many types of correlational research. The commonality among

all types of correlational research is that they explore relationships
between variables. Where descriptive research only described what was
going on, correlational research talks about the link between different
things. It is important to understand that correlational research does
NOT tell us that variable A caused Variable B, but rather that they are
somehow related.
For example, if I told you that there was a correlation between domestic
violence (violence between a family members) and bowling you would look
at me strangely. But there is a relationship between the variables
(variable 1- domestic violence, and variable 2- bowling). As more people
bowl in the US, more domestic violence occurs.

Does that mean that bowling causes domestic violence- like you had bad
game and take it out on a loved one. Or domestic violence causes bowlinglike you fight with a sibling and feel the need to take it out on some pins.
As you have already guessed- one does not cause the other to occur, but
they are related- for every time people bowl, I can predict that domestic

violence will go up, and every time domestic violence goes down I should
be able to find a lane at the local bowling alley. There is a hidden variable
that links both of them together. In this case it is winter time. In the
winter more people bowl and more people stay in their homes (which
increases the chances of domestic violence).

Direction of a Correlation
Before we examine the different types of correlational research
methods, understand that correlations can go in two directions; positive
and negative.
Positive Correlation: when two variables go in the SAME direction.
For example, domestic violence and bowling. When bowling goes up,
so does domestic violence. When domestic violence decreases, so
does bowling.
Negative Correlation: here the two variables go in DIFFERENT
directions. For example, consumption of garlic and dating (now I am
making this one up). The less garlic you eat, the more you date. The
more garlic you eat, the less the date. One variable going in one
direction can be used to predict the other variable going in the
opposite direction.

Correlational Coefficient
Scientists measure the strength of a correlation by using a number called
a correlational coefficient. Now you do not have to know how they get
the number, but you should know what it means when you see it. The
number range from -1 to +1. If two variables (like studying and grades)
have a correlation above zero (like +.76) then you have a positive
correlation and the more you study, the better grades you have. The the
number is below zero (like -.42) then you have a negative correlation and
when one variable goes up the other goes down (like garlic and dating). If
two variables have a correlation of zero then they have NO relationship
with each other. The closer the numbers go to either +1 or -1, the
stronger the correlation. The strength has nothing to do with whether
the number is positive of negative. A correlation of -.88 is stronger than
one that is +.56. the closer the number gets to zero (whether positive or
negative), the weaker the correlation.

Types of Correlational Studies

There are many different ways to show a correlation between two
variables. Let's discuss some of the more popular ways; the survey
method and naturalistic observation.
The Survey Method

Perhaps the most common type of research around is survey research.

Every time you receive a letter in the mail asking you to take a minute and

answer a few questions, or get a phone call begging for ten minutes of
your time to speak about how you feel about ??????, you are experiencing
the survey method of research. All surveys have one thing in common,
they ask questions.
Now there are good and bad things about surveys in research. The goodno matter how you do it, internet, mail, phone, in person- they are fairly
cheap. You can cover large populations of people easily if you use the
phone or internet. The bad aspects of surveys is that 1. the response
rate is REALLY low (for every 100 mailing you send out, you will be lucky
to get one back). Second, people can lie on the survey so you can always
question the validity of your data.
Let's break down the survey method as a tool of correlational study.
Pretend our hypothesis was the more garlic people eat, the less they
date. First, we have to come up with some survey questions (pretend they
ask about the amount of garlic one has eaten in the past 6 months and
how much they have dated in the past sixth months). Hopefully, when
people answer the survey, we will see that people who have stated that
they have eaten a lot of garlic have also answered that they have dated
less (a negative correlation).
But who are we going to give the survey to? As with ALL types of studies
(except some case studies) we must choose a sample of people to take the
survey (a sample is just a group of subjects). We have to first identify
a population of people from which we are going to get the sample. The
population includes anyone who can possibly be chosen to be part of the
sample. If we are studying anorexic women and their dating habits we
would choose a sample from a population of anorexic women (asking a
chubby dude like me would not make sense for an anorexic study so I
would NOT be a part of the population). In the case of garlic and dating,

I am going to limit my population to single men and women between the

ages of 18-25 from the Westchester area (if I do not limit my population,
then I would have to start contacting people from all around the world).
Now, how do I pick people to be a part of my sample. Do I call all my
single buddies in the Westchester area and give them the survey? That
would not be a very fair way of doing it. To make the survey valid I
MUST randomly select a sample from the population. Random
selection means that every person in my population has an equal chance of
being selected for the survey. If I can do this, then my sample has a
greatly likelihood of actually representing the larger population I am
studying. How do I randomly sample my population- I can randomly pick
names out of a phonebook (but in a way that is unfair to single people in
Westchester who do not have phones)- in other words, finding a truly
random sample is not easy.
Naturalistic Observation
Another correlational research method is called naturalistic
observation (although you can also use it as a descriptive research tool as
well). Naturalistic observation is when a researcher attempts to observe
their subjects in their natural habitats without interacting with them at
all. Pretend I had a hypothesis; marijuana increases hunger (munchies).
If I wanted to use naturalistic observation I would find a bunch of pot
users and watch them. I would follow them around to parties, watch them
smoke, and then see if they eat.

I would never interact with them- but just watch. If I see that every
time a pot user smokes they eat, I could claim that smoking and eating
are related, but I would NEVER know if the smoking caused the eating (it
could be one of a million other things). Once again, at most these types
of studies show correlation. The pinnacle of all science if is
prove causation.